Microsoft brings Outlook to iPhone and iPad
When Microsoft released Office for iPhone, the sentiment among users was mixed. Some customers complained that it could be signaling defeat for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8, while others praised it as a good business move -- it was a mixed bag of emotions. The biggest backlash was the Office 365 subscription requirement which left paying standard Office users (non-subscription) out in the cold. Today, Microsoft continues its trend of supporting the mobile operating system, as it releases Outlook Web App (OWA) for iOS.
Unlike Office for iPhone, Outlook Web App supports the iPad as well. Slate support is essential as many business users are trading their laptops for the Apple tablet to get work done. Unfortunately, the Office 365 subscription requirement also applies here. This is very frustrating, as many large businesses and enterprise users without 365 subscriptions would hugely benefit from this particular app. These customers will be forced to use Webmail in a browser or use a 3rd party app such as the much maligned Good for Enterprise.
Outlook.com now lets you chat with friends ‘stuck using Gmail’
After nearly two months of using Microsoft’s services almost exclusively, I made the painful decision to switch back to Google for most of my web needs. I say "most" because I’m still using, and enjoying, Outlook.com.
My decision to stick with Microsoft’s webmail service seems well founded, as the company is adding more features all the time. It introduced Skype support two weeks ago, and from today is rolling out the ability to directly message your Gmail-using contacts. Or "friends stuck on Gmail" as Microsoft amusingly phrases it.
Hotmail is dead, Outlook.com has 400 million users
Microsoft has been actively migrating customers from Hotmail to its Outlook.com service over the past six weeks. That migration ends today, as Microsoft announces completion of, not only the big move, but also that the company now has instant success from the latest web-based email offering.
"When Outlook.com came out of preview, it was already the fastest growing email service thanks to your support. The last two months have seen the release of a new, modern Outlook.com calendar, a refreshed Outlook.com app for Android devices, two-factor authentication for your account, new international domains for people around the world, and the release of a preview of Skype calling in Outlook.com" boasts Microsoft's Dick Craddock.
Microsoft busts some myths with new Outlook ad
Microsoft is in the process of pushing users to Outlook.com for web email services. The company purchased Hotmail back in 1997, largely ignored it, and then suddenly began updating the app right before deciding to unceremoniously replace it with Outlook.com back in July of 2012.
Now the company is in full push-mode to get users moved over and also try to woo new customers for the service. With that in mind, Microsoft has teamed up with the folks from the popular Mythbusters TV show to advertise Outlook.com and also push the brand new season of the show.
Set up two-step authentication for your Microsoft account on Windows Phone
Following the lead of a number of high-profile companies like Apple, Dropbox and Google, Microsoft has finally embraced two-step authentication. Two days ago, the company unveiled the feature which, in order to "help keep your account more secure", enables using security codes or application-specific passwords when accessing Microsoft services. Sadly, for Android and iOS users, Microsoft only offers a Windows Phone app, at this point, to generate security codes.
The app is called Authenticator and works with both Windows Phone 8 as well as Windows Phone 7.5 (ironically, it was the app that revealed Microsoft's plans to offer the security feature in the first place). This guide will show you how to enable two-step authentication for your Microsoft account and use Authenticator to generate security codes on your Windows Phone smartphone.
Microsoft Q3 2013 by the numbers: $20.49B revenue, 72 cents EPS
Today, after the closing bell, Microsoft revealed what might be the closest-watched quarterly results in 11 years. Fiscal third quarter, like the one in 2002, marks a time of record-low PC shipments, with blame falling on the newest operating system. In recent weeks, every idiot arm-chair pundit imaginable has taken to the web to proclaim Windows 8 a failure and prophesying Microsoft's doom. Not so fast. This company is still a money machine.
For fiscal Q3, ended March 31, Microsoft revenue reached $20.49 billion. Operating income: $7.61 billion and net income was $6.06 billion, or 72 cents a share.
Microsoft Research adds new functionality to Outlook
Most of the focus these days seems to be around Outlook.com, as Microsoft anxiously endeavours to move its apps online and turn software into a service. But, while the latest version of Microsoft's productivity suite -- Office 365 Home Premium -- includes the ability to access the apps on the web, ultimately it is still a software suite on your computer.
Now Microsoft Research wants to bring new functionality to the desktop version of Outlook and is announcing the release of Mañana Mail to do just that.
Microsoft updates Outlook.com for Android
Microsoft's relentless push for Outlook.com brings an app update to the enemy camp, today -- big move given that Android now represents a large portion of today's mobile market. Two weeks ago, Microsoft unleashed a major calendaring service overhaul.
The interface has been completely revamped and new features come along for the ride. As you may know, Google has pulled support for Exchange ActiveSync, but Microsoft now works around that.
Failed update to blame for outage of Microsoft cloud services
There are plenty of benefits of living in the cloud, but some major downsides too. Nearly five months ago an Amazon Cloud outage took down BetaNews' group chat service, alongside Heroku, Flipboard, Foursquare and Reddit among others. And, two days ago, Microsoft users went through a similar ordeal which mostly affected Hotmail, Outlook.com and SkyDrive -- three of Microsoft's more essential cloud services.
Microsoft's vice president, Arthur de Haan, has chimed in on the matter in a blog post which links the outage to the upgrade process from Hotmail to the new out-of-beta email service Outlook.com. Since 13:35 PM PDT on March 12 until 5:43 AM PDT on March 13, de Haan says that "a small part of the SkyDrive service, but primarily Hotmail.com and Outlook.com" suffered from a service interruption caused by a firmware update which failed "in an unexpected way".
Outlook.com comes out in support of same-sex marriage -- or is it just a marketing ploy?
I watched an advert for Microsoft’s new webmail service yesterday. It starts by showing a man changing his job from Deliveryman to Stuntman on the website. Next up, there’s a pretty young woman getting married and locking lips with her partner. Afterwards she uses Outlook.com to change her name from Sarah Jones, to Sarah Jones-Brown, and a female friend emails to congratulate her. The advert ends with a voiceover saying "Get email that keeps your friends information up to date automatically".
I thought it was a decent, if unspectacular, ad that gets its message across well. Then I scrolled down to the comments. And oh my, the bigots were out in force. Because, you see, the woman in the video was getting married to -- shock horror -- another woman!
Microsoft teases Skype integration with Outlook.com
Little over two weeks ago Microsoft took down the "opening soon" digital cardboard sign and officially introduced Outlook.com into the wild as a stable product. And if you're already a user or if you have seen the commercials, then you already know that the email service delivers Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter integration, among other supported cloud services.
But there's one that is still missing, and a very important product integration at that -- Skype. In mid-May 2011 Microsoft purchased the popular voice, video and text chatting service for $8.5 billion, a not so small chunk of change by any means. Naturally, in the cloud-connected era, integration with the software giant's cloud products is the next logical step, especially in the midst of heavy competition from Google which, for instance, includes Google Talk integration with Gmail.
Scroogled isn't dead, it's just beginning
Contrary to rumors yesterday, Microsoft has not abandoned its "Scroogled" marketing campaign, despite sharp criticisms. My colleague Wayne Williams calls the attacks against Google a "sad and frankly pathetic strategy".
If the statement a Microsoft spokesperson has given to BetaNews is any indication, the campaign will get more aggressive than it is today: "Scroogled will go on as long as Google keeps Scroogling people. We know Google doesn’t like it when the facts come out. Chapter two of the consumer education campaign has shown people care about their privacy. More than 3.5 million people visited scroogled.com, and nearly 115,000 people signed a petition asking Google to stop going through their Gmail. Stay tuned for the next chapter".
Is Outlook.com for businesses, consumers or both?
A week ago, Microsoft formally launched Outlook.com -- its free, web-based email service -- to the public. The service had been in preview since last July.
Microsoft has for too long had a quartet of email offerings, including Hotmail, MSN and the now retired Entourage. Not surprisingly, this portfolio has been a source of confusion and complication for businesses, consumers and Microsoft brand management. By formally launching Outlook.com, Microsoft is now in the final throes of migrating to a single offering that streamlines its marketing spend and brings clarity to customers.
Get ready to move from Hotmail to Outlook
If you use Hotmail then you may already know that you are moving to Outlook.com. You may not want to, but you are -- unless you plan to scrap the whole thing and head over to Gmail, Yahoo mail or another service. Microsoft officially launched Outlook overnight, but the service beta debuted six months ago; we reviewed here already.
So, to help users along in this moving process, the company posted a question and answer page appropriately titled "My Hotmail account was upgraded to Outlook.com".
Microsoft takes Outlook live
Perhaps "live" is a poor choice of words, seeing as Windows Live is dead. Early this morning, Microsoft took down the "opening soon" sign and brought Outlook -- that's the .com not the software -- out of beta. The webmail service is in "grand opening" mode with 60 million "active users" in tow, and more coming as they migrate from Hotmail.
Microsoft unveiled the email service nearly six months ago, decked out in Windows 8-logo blue and generous white space. During the beta process, Outlook ran alongside Hotmail. But with the new service launched, "we'll soon start to upgrade hundreds of millions of Hotmail users to the new Outlook.com experience", David Law, Outlook.com product management director, says.
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